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Camping offers many health benefits, which you might not know about, aside from staying away from your toxic workmates. Nope, that was a joke, but yes, camping brings peace of mind and more.
I could write about a lot of benefits of camping, but this article pinpoints those that have a big impact on your overall health, both mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Try to explore the outdoors and experience these benefits:
1. Reduced Stress and Anxiety
As I interviewed a lot of campers during my journey, the first thing that I asked them was, what’s the reason why you’re camping? For both newbie campers, like students, and experienced ones, the majority of the answers are to reduce stress.
Did you know?
The Global Organization For Stress reports that stress is a top health concern for teens between 9th and 12th grade.
So, if you’re a high school student reading this, try on family camping. Bond with your parents and play with your siblings; that way, you can build a strong relationship in the family and more memories with them.
2. Improved Sleep Quality
Doing a lot of activities during camping can help you get good sleep. It helps align your sleep schedule and can make you more productive during the day. Aside from that, your eyes can rest from too much electronic device use, which I am guilty of. This is one of the reasons why we often lack sleep and feel tired the next day.
Sleeping on the campsite allows us to rest well since it’s far from noise and distractions from the city. It can also make us calm and relaxed, which helps us avoid the stress we experience at work.
3. Enhanced Mental Health and Mood
Have you heard of serotonin? Serotonin is a chemical responsible for carrying messages between nerve cells in the brain and throughout the body. If this chemical is too low, we may experience depression. So, how can we increase our serotonin levels? By getting a good night’s sleep and increasing physical activity, which camping offers.
Sunlight also helps us improve our mental health and mood. The more activities we have camping while the sun is out, the more active we are, and our brains function much better as well.
Tip:
If you feel physically tired while camping, try bringing playing cards or board games as part of your camping checklist and play with your camping buddy. That way, your mind will be active. If you love writing, bring some notes and write about your camping experience, your life journey, and everything else.
4. Increased Physical Activity
Building tents, playing on the beach, swimming or snorkeling (beach camping), hiking, playing, and cooking outdoors increase physical activity. Camping involves a lot of movement, which can strengthen bones and joints. It can also reduce the risk of heart attack and lower blood pressure, which most adults suffer from.
If you’re new to camping, make sure to read the camping guides for beginners. Then, you will know what to pack and what you can use for your activities.
5. Boost of Vitamin D
Outside activities expose you to sunlight, which gives you vitamin D. It helps make your skin glow and boosts your immune system. A review found that people who are experiencing negative emotions who were given Vitamin D supplements noticed improvement in their symptoms, especially people who are depressed.
If you are vitamin D deficient, you might experience joint pain, muscle weakness, spasms, and hyperparathyroidism, which can lead to hormone imbalance.
So if you are camping, do some activities in the morning, and don’t hide in your tent because it’s hot.
6. Improve Memory and Focus
Yes, it can improve your memory. When camping, your body releases serotonin, which we discussed above. It helps regulate your mood and improves cognitive functions such as memory and learning. By the way, the happy hormone that you usually hear is serotonin.
Whenever I camp, I feel more focused and easily come up with bright ideas that I don’t normally experience when I’m at home.
Try this when you camp: Bring some pen and notes or some drawing materials and start doing what’s on your mind. I’ll guarantee you can come up with better results than what you’re usually seeing.
7. Healing and Immune Support
One of the most effective recovery and easy therapeutic techniques is getting outdoors. Any type of clean environment, like oceans, lakes, and rivers, has numerous benefits for our health.
Camping can be a powerful therapy when experiencing physical or emotional challenges. The air quality in the campground is unmatched compared to the city, even if you have purifiers at home.
8. Helps Lower Blood Sugar Levels
Camping involves a lot of movement, especially when you participate in activities like hiking, nature trails, and swimming, which can increase your physical activity levels. You exercise your body. This helps to lower blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity, allowing cells to utilize glucose for energy.
When you’re at the campsite, you have less access to fast food restaurants and convenience stores, which can reduce the temptation to eat those high-sugar snacks and drinks that can raise your blood sugar level.
9. Healthier Eating Habits
Camping makes eating healthy easier! You’re away from fast food and naturally lean towards whole foods. Cooking outdoors is so much fun and makes you get creative with tasty, nutritious meals. In this way, you must focus on good nutrition and enjoy a great time in nature.
When you have a lot of activities going on while camping, it can surely make you hungry and increase your appetite. Eating while seeing the beauty of nature and breathing fresh air makes the experience even more enjoyable.
10. Strengthen Social Relationships
Camping brings people together, creating lasting memories. Whether you are camping with family or with friends, It’s a chance to bond, swap tips, and enjoy the outdoors. Plus, it’s easy to find solitude if you need it. Disconnecting from technology helps us focus on relationships and discover new things about each other.
